The city will hold its 9th annual Spring Cleanup on Saturday, Apr. 16 (rescheduled from Apr. 9 due to inclement weather forecast). More than 800 cleanup projects have been registered throughout the city, including dozens in West Philadelphia. Community involvement is essential and many projects are still seeking volunteers. Residents are also encouraged to step outside their buildings, pick up trash and remove debris or check out empty lots nearby for litter. Read more.

Find your next job at INTER/VIEW

This April, Generocity wants you to get a job. Not just any job — one that lets you do good and do well at the same time. Philly is seeing investment and social enterprise grow locally, and organizations are starting to take notice that potential employees are looking for more than a way to pay the bills. They’re looking for a way to give back. Read more.

How local artists are communicating hard facts about the ‘new Jim Crow’

Mass incarceration is undeniably real, and the facts are laid out in Michelle Alexander‘s 2010 book “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.” But the book is dense and difficult to digest, drowning out data that should serve as a call to action:

There are over 2.4 million people imprisoned in the U.S. That’s the most of any country, and has increased over 500 percent since the Nixon administration declared a “war on drugs.”

Of those 2.4 million, 60 percent are people of color.

75 percent of people convicted for drug charges are of color.
This has resulted in the disenfranchisement of over 2 million people of color — 7.7 percent of black adults, compared to 1.8 percent of non-people of color.

West Philly Porchfest – Info Meeting and Hype Session

Porchfest – a free, one-day, decentralized festival of music-making on porches all over the neighborhood – is coming to West Philly! Porchfest is scheduled for SATURDAY, JUNE 4th – save the date! In the mean time, come to our kick-off meeting/hype session to get pumped up for the big day, learn more about it and get involved in making it happen! Read more.

20 Book Clubs, 20 Cooperative Businesses

We’re thrilled to announce that PACA staff member Caitlin Quigley is a winner of the Knight Cities Challenge with her project “20 Book Clubs, 20 Cooperative Businesses!” Caitlin and PACA were awarded a $146,000 grant by the Knight Foundation to implement this exciting new project. The Knight Cities Challenge named 37 winners out of a pool of over 4,500 applicants. Read more.